EA has a number of highly successful IPs under their belt, with EA DICE’s Battlefield franchise one of the studio’s main and highest selling IPs. However, it doesn’t look pretty for Battlefield 1’s pre-order numbers.

Wall Street Journal’s Sarah Needleman recently published a statement announced the departure of long EA employee and former DICE CEO back in 2006, Patrick Söderlund. Söderlund stayed with the studio after EA’s acquisition and took the Chief Design Officer as well as other different positions, and is considered one of the main reasons behind Battlefield’s worldwide success so far. Cowen Group, gaming industry analysts, report weak pre-order numbers compared to Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 and Red Dead Redemption 2, with Battlefield 1 releasing in between both of them.

Electronic Arts’ chief design officer is leaving just two months before the launch of a new installment of one of its biggest franchises, Battlefield. Patrick Söderlund had been with EA for nearly 20 years and worked out of its DICE Studio in Stockholm that makes the war-themed videogame series. Earlier this month, Cowen said pre-order sales of “Battlefield V” have been weak. It is due for release in between Activision Blizzard’s next Call of Duty game and Take-Two Interactive Software’s Red Dead Redemption sequel, both of which Cowen says are showing greater pre-order demand. Cowen says Battlefield could suffer the same fate as EA’s “Titanfall 2,” which was released in between two major game launches in 2016 and sold poorly.